No Man's Time

“How did it get so late so soon?

It's night before it's afternoon.

December is here

before it's June.

My goodness how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon?”  

~Dr. Seuss~

 

Time slips out of your hands, like a cord in a weaver’s hand. I did not realize how much time I have used up until I looked at the date on my last post. It is nearly an out-of-sight mile-marker, disappearing into the distance. Time. Yes, it is a good subject. When we were children, time treaded slowly. Time picked up her feet in high-school, but still she did not move as fast as our impatient hearts wanted. In college, she began to jog. And now that we are adults, she is sprinting in a mad dash while we desperately try to keep pace. Time moves too fast. Our lives are marked by time. We are born which winds-up the clock, significant events are marked on our timeline, and then the clock winds-down at our death. We have such a short supply of time. However, all too often, I find myself either anxiously wishing myself at the next event on my timeline or stopping at the previous event.   
What a child I am! I think the key to spending time well is to be content. Contentment. I do not want grasp that word. No, I want everything but contentment. However, God wants me to learn its meaning, so I will. I went back to Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary, since I assumed that he lived in a slower time and era. He, of anyone, should understand the word. Webster explains that “contentment; a resting or satisfaction of mind without disquiet; acquiescence. Contentment, without external honor, is humility. Godliness.” Wow. Contentment is humility and Godliness. I paused in my hurried rush to contemplate his definition. I suppose, contentment is humility and Godliness because it acknowledges that God is God. God knows our timeline. He knows what he has planned for my life. I am in the exact place that He has created for me. I am not the Creator of my timeline. My birth was out of my control, and my death will be out of my control. God is the one who began to spin my timeline, and He knows the exact length that He wants it. He also knows the twists and turns that He wants incorporated into my timeline. What am I to do then? What can I do when He holds the line? I can be faithful with the task that He has given me. I can know and acknowledge that I do not know the next twist of the line, but I do know where I am right now. I know that I have a task to accomplish. I will simply finish the work that God has given me to do. Not only will I finish my work, but I will be faithful in it. I will stop assuming the wrong role and accept my role with humility. I will trust God to spin my life in the manner that He has planned. 

Dirt, childhood, and growth

Dirt, childhood, and growth

“A tree grows because it adds rings: a train doesn't grow by leaving one station behind and puffing onto the next.” C.S. Lewis.

            As a child, I played on the laps of two mountains. My siblings and I swam in the cold Columbia river, bailed hay, and slept in pine-tree forts for entertainment. Sometimes, Mom would wash dishes and look out the window to see her children crouched over the necks of their careening mounts, some with saddles and some bareback, racing up the driveway. She would stand on the front porch and greet her wild brood, holding my little tow-headed brother who sucked his thumb and regarded us with suspicion. Evidently, the situation seemed unstable to him.

            All six of us, like arrows shot from a bow, traveled in different directions. It's a part of growing up, I suppose. And I also left the valley for about five years. But you always look back and, perhaps, come back. Even though I learned to wear a business jacket and all the paraphernalia that comes with it; sometimes, I wanted to wander down to the river on a hot summer day and stick my feet in the cold river. This is our secret, but I like the feeling of the river mud between my feet. And when I passed by the maintenance guys at college planting petunias, I wanted to lay aside my messenger bag, kneel down, and help them.

            This is the soil that holds up my roots; this is where I was born. For those who say that you need to grow by forgetting your childhood, for those who tell me to travel to gain perspective, I can only say that you don't understand growth. You don't cut down a tree and expect it to grow bigger; you cut it down to make a building, a boat, or something new out of it. I don't want to change who I am; I want to grow. A strong tree buries its roots deep into the soil where God planted it and adds layers of rings to itself each continuous year. I have seen trees that have pushed their heads high into the sky, but their roots reached as far, if not farther into the ground below.

            My closest friends are the people who love me in my torn jeans, in that silver evening dress, astride my horse, with dirt stained feet, and business casual. My most trusted advisers are my family. No matter where I go, I will love my family, and I will always keep a garden just outside my back door. Now if you will excuse me, I have a yearning to run across the field and wade in the cold mountain river bed.

           

           

           

           

           

             

           

           

            

A future unlike any other

Why is nothing working for me?

"For I know the plans I have for you"-The Lord.

God has a path unlike any other
 planned for you.
Photo from
 http://pinterest.com/pin/155233518376338447/

    As I walked down the airport terminal, my heels clicking on the floor, I bit my lip and adjusted my backpack. My stomach was clinched with nervousness and fear. I had just graduated from college, and landed a job with my local paper. I had no idea what was ahead; I just knew what I had finished. Everything was beginning for me.

    My peers had graduated about two years younger than me. Some had landed jobs with big companies, some had married their college sweethearts, and some had been accepted as graduate assistants which meant that they could work at the college for their education. But I had been denied all three things. My plans were in disarray.

    “God, what do you have for me?” I questioned him. “Why did you tell me no? But—I will trust you. I choose to trust you.”

    Now, six months later, I'm beginning to understand. The plans that God has for me are beginning to take form. I have been cared for and blessed even though much of my future is still unplanned.

As I was reading Ruth and Hosea a few months ago, I was struck with a thought. The two books are completely opposite of each other—the first ends with a happy ending and the other ends with loss. But both books are a picture of Christ.

    I think our lives as Christians are much like Ruth and Hosea. God never called us to a cookie cutter life. He never said, “Follow me and you will fulfill your plans.” He said, “I know the plans that I have for you”. God is not interested in our schedule or timetable. God has his own agenda.

   I'm learning to follow the master's footsteps for my life. When I ask him, “Father, why are you leading me unlike anyone else? Why can't I have security like other girls?” He says, “I know the plans I have for you. Trust in me with all your heart.” I suck in my breath, ignore my fears, and reach for His hand.

    As I walk beside Him, I realize that he has chosen the best place for me to work, live, and be. I would never have had the people in my life that I have now if I had chosen not to follow Him. He knew exactly what he was doing. 

If you are a follower of Christ, then why are your trying to lead?

    How about you? Are you frustrated that your plans are not working out? Are you frustrated with the path that you must follow? If you are a follower of Christ, then why are your trying to lead? If you are a follower, then follow. God has a plan and a purpose that is customized for your life. He will not force your life to fit the typical mold.
    Your life is not yours to plan. You have given it to the Savior, the master. And the purpose of our lives is not to glorify or lift ourselves up, it is to glorify God. And when we let Him mold our lives into the best picture of him, then we glorify him.

    Ruth let God use her life to paint a picture of redemption. She was desolate and forsaken, but she was found and loved by a good man. Her life was a metaphor of Christ's love to the sinner lost and desolate.

   Hosea was a picture of the Christian that runs from God. His wife cheated on him, but he had to forgive her so that Christ could be glorified. He experienced the dregs of sorrow and betrayal, but Christ was glorified in his life. His life showed the picture of Christ's constant love to the sinner even though they turn their back on him.

   How about you? Are we willing to let the picture or truth that God wants to display in our life shine through? Or will we try to fight the plan that God has?

 

   I'm learning. I'm not an expert. But I do know that God has led me and he will continue to lead me. My story will reflect the truth of God in a completely different way than your story will. If we let Him lead us.

   If He leads you to climb the mountains, to walk in the valley of sorrow, or to enjoy the lush green pastures, follow Him. Your life is not your own. Let Him lead you.

 

 

 

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the hosue of the Lord for ever.

~Psalm 23~

Modern Christianity and a big fat lie

"Accept me as I am. Don't judge me"

  I was reading through the book of Luke when I noticed the chapter headings—the unclean spirit cast out, the sick healed, the leper cleansed, a man with palsy healed (and his sins forgiven), a demoniac boy healed, etc. Did you notice something odd about those headings? I did. I noticed something that did not fit with American Christianity today. But think about those headings, while I deviate with a short story. I promise to return and explain why this struck me.

 

~A DISEASE IGNORED~
 

  She came into the doctor's office, sick and emaciated. The disease had destroyed her body. She sat in the cold examination room, her hands rubbing the plastic examination bed. All she could hear in the silence was the scratching of the doctor's pen. The scratching noise stopped.

“All right, I want you to take this prescription to the pharmacist. These pills will help you feel better.”

“Will they cure the problem?” asked the girl as she took the paper from him.

“No, but they will cure the pain.”

“But what about my illness? Can you fix my problem?”

“Don't worry about the disease. These pills should help you feel better.”

“Doctor, what can I do to get well?

“Lady, I accept you as you are. Don't worry about your disease. I've seen worse. You just keep taking these drugs, and coming to see me, and we'll talk about your little problem later.”

“So... I'm not as sick as we thought? We don't have to worry about the disease?”

“If it worries or offends you, we wont talk about it. We will just pretend it doesn't exist.”

  Ok, I know this story is unbelievable and I wrote it that way on purpose. But look at the contrast between the way that Jesus treated the sick and the way this lying doctor treated his patient. Which was the kind physician? It certainly wasn't the doctor because all he gave her was false hope and drugs to cover her pain. But Jesus addressed his patients' problems and sins. First, he fixed the physical ailments and then he fixed the spiritual sicknesses.

   Please pay attention because I want to expose one of the biggest false doctrines among Christians today. I am going to be honest with you, and I believe that my honesty will offend many Christians.   

http://pinterest.com/pin/23925441741906982/

   Christians preach a false doctrine called, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” When people come to us in spiritual sickness, we ignore their sins. We are so bent on accepting everybody, that we have become worthless Christians. We only want to love each other. We tell them that “you're sin isn't so bad. I've seen worse. I accept you as you are.” How can we accept their sin when we know the consequences of letting them continue in sin? Do you know remember that “the wages of sin are death”? Death! We are letting them die when we accept their sin.

   When sinners came to Christ to be His disciples, what was the first thing that He did? He confronted their sin. He didn't beat around the bush, because He knew that the sinner had to abandon his sin before he could find Christ.

   Don't tell me that Christ was the friend of sinners and publicans. He was the friend of former sinners and publicans. These sinners that surrounded him were healed and forgiven. They had turned from their sins because Christ was merciful and cleansed them from their sins.

   We need to have the boldness of Christ and speak the truth with people. “No, your sin is wrong. And this is why, because the Bible says its wrong.” How can you ever surgically remove a cancer if you never make the first cut? Yes, the truth will not only hurt, it will cut like a “sharp edged sword.” But we have to give out the t~ruth, because the only way we will ever save a person is by our boldness. How can we hide such a marvelous, life-changing truth like the gospel? Do we even care about those people who are on their way to hell because of their sins? We will never change them if we cannot tell them the truth. And a person will never be saved until he knows that he is lost.

   Now the opposite side of the coin is a brutal approach to people. I'm not advocating that you wield this "sharp edged sword" like it is a club. I never said you should beat people up with the truth. The truth cuts deep enough without using a large amount of force. The purpose of the truth should be to cure not to hurt even though it will do both.

   Our whole purpose for being truthfull with people should be to kill the sin in their lives because we hate its destructive power over them. We should hate sin. Did you know that to be a true follower of God, you have to hate sin? Did you forget about the God who hates sin? What about the God who, consumed with righteous wrath, flooded the earth to punish sinners? Has our God changed? He says that he never changes. Perhaps, we are the only ones who have changed our mind about sin. 

 

"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."

~Proverbs 8:13~





   We are to hate evil and love good. God draws us away from the evil of our sin and into his goodness. We are to forsake iniquity and seek God. It is a biblical principal that we cannot have fellowship with God if we are still clinging to our sin. And it is wrong to tell others that God accepts a person as they are. He does not. He has never promised to accept a person as they are. He said that we should come unto him “all ye who are weary and sick and he will give us rest”, but he never said that he wouldn't change or heal us. He is too kind of a God to accept our sickness.

   I want you to understand. I want myself to understand. We are not doing lost people a favor by being “loving” and non “judgmental”. We are simply saying that we don't care enough about them to tell them the truth. We are too weak to throw a safety line to those in need. I'm tired of weak and wimpy Christianity. I want to be a Christian that truly loves my neighbors, who tells them the truth about sin because I love them.

Tightropes beneath our feet

Walking on precarious paths

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   Why did I climb this stupid platform? I asked myself for the hundredth time. I was supposed to walk across a rope and expect my tether rope and harness to keep me safe. A zip line with a pulley was strung above the tightrope to keep me balanced on the rope. If I would only walk, the rope would hold me on the tightrope, but I was too scared. The teenage boy holding my tether rope, stared up at me. He had given up trying to convince me to walk across, he only wanted me to jump from the platform.

   “Just jump, I'll catch you,” He told me.

   “How much do you weigh?” I asked him doubtfully. He looked too skinny to be able to catch anything, especially a thirteen old girl who was pushing six feet.

   “It doesn't matter. The rope will catch you. Just jump! You've been up there for half an hour,” he retorted loudly.

   I closed my eyes and felt my knees sag. No. I couldn't do it.

   “Jump!” He yelled.

   I made the decision. And leaped off the platform. The boy wasn't expecting my sudden burst of courage and he flew up into the air, but he stopped the tether rope zipping through his pulley by jerking it up against his belt. The rope held. I slammed to a stop in the air. The boy let the rope pass through his hands slowly, and I fell onto the ground, my legs trembling too much to hold me up.

   “See? That wasn't so hard,” he told me. He grabbed my hand and jerked me to my feet.

   Sometimes, I think that my life is like that tightrope. God has a tether rope on me, and He tells me to walk across that tightrope. If I fall, He promises to catch me. But I always seem to look at the circumstances.

   God, are you sure you can catch me? That tightrope is strung too high. What if I slip? God, will you catch me? I can't do this. I'm too weak. I know I'll slip. Why are you torturing me by making me walk this rope? Are you really the kind God that I have learned to love?

   Doubts plague me and hold me to the platform, my body trembling with anxiety. I sit down on that platform. I'm listening to my fears and I cannot perform this feat that God wants me to do. He just wants me to try and walk. He wants me to trust Him. But I am busy talking to myself and depending on my own strength.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

~Proverbs 3:5~

   Lately, I have been learning that trust is a decision. God wants us to trust Him. He doesn't want us to balance on the rope by ourselves; He only wants us to take the first step. He desires to show us how He will keep our feet planted on that path. He wants us to throw ourselves on His strength so that He can show us His marvelous strength and providence.

   A few days ago, I had a tightrope to walk. I was driving my car home, worrying about these circumstances beyond my control. My mind had been tossing this impossible circumstance around like a tennis player bouncing a ball off the wall. Every possible solution was exhausted and I was in tears. But I had come to the point where I was exhausted by my fears. I decided that I could not deal with this problem in my own strength.

   Ok, God. You have to do this. I will trust you. I will!

   The circumstance was still before me, stretched like a tightrope. Nothing had changed except that now I had the peace and trust to walk it. God is holding me up, and I can take the steps necessary to pass over this precarious path.

   When we abandon our own fears and apprehensions, then God can show us a strength beyond ourselves. Don't sit on that platform. Decide that even though the height is immense, the path is precarious, and your strength is not enough, you will walk. You will trust God.

What shall we give for love?

The price of love

Many waters cannot quench love

neither can the floods drown

it: if a man would give all 

the substance of his house 

for love, it would utterly 

be contemned.

~Song of Solomon 8:7~

           He shuffled into the room, a little old man with a plastic grocery bag. We continued to sing our hymns while he sat down next to the paralyzed woman in her wheel chair. She was strapped into her chair; her head was the only thing that moved. But she couldn't even control her head, it moved from side to side. He sat down next to her, pulled a banana from the grocery bag, and peeled it. Slowly, he fed her the fruit—a piece at a time.

            “Mabel, eat your banana sweetie,” he might say. He spoke to her as if she could hear him.

            My family went to the nursing home every week to put on a service for the older people. They couldn't leave the nursing home to go to church, so we came to them. I don't remember the old man's name, but I do remember his love for his wife. Every day, he would get up and drive to the nursing home to see her even though she couldn't respond to his attention. She couldn't feel or give him love in response, yet he never faltered in his devotion.

            True love. We all seek a perfect man or woman to fill our loneliness. We want somebody to show us the devotion that the man in the paragraph above showed his wife. Television portrays romance as two people fighting destiny which eventually draws them together, they fall in love, they sleep together, and then they get married. Happily ever after.

            Rarely, does the happily ever after show the love of his life suffering a stroke and living her last five years without her motor skills while he feeds her bananas. He wipes away the banana that she drools out of her mouth. This scene is their only passionate act of love.

            What is love? I Corinthians says, “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails.” Read the passage carefully. Did you know that every characteristic listed is against human nature? So, love is not a natural feeling. Love is work because you have to deny your desires.

            The woman from the Song of Solomon said that “many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it, if a man would give all of his substance for love, it would utterly be contemned.” If you love somebody, you give. You give so much that you would lose everything you for the one you love. Isn't this a contradiction to modern love? If we don't get our way, or the relationship is not benefiting us somehow, we rarely stick around. We don't give our hearts; we hold ourselves back.

            Holding ourselves from our spouse is a failure of modern love. To completely give yourself to someone, to completely trust them, opens us up to vulnerability. We don't want to give everything to a human so prone to mistakes. What if they hurt us? Did you know that hurt is a way of life? Did you know that a lot of good things come from pain? For example, a baby comes from a birth, knowledge comes from spankings, and a doctor cuts open a person's chest to fix their irregular heartbeat.

            When you give love, in a way, you are healing that person. You are showing them that they are not alone, that they are treasured, that they can be loved though they have flaws. I think every person needs love and according to my pastor “many people do not receive nearly enough love”.

            But you cannot give the kind of love that I Corinthians describes because it is humanly impossible. Since giving that kind of love all the time is against human nature, you have to kill your nature. How is it possible to kill yourself and give pure love? Christ says that he wants us to believe on him. He asks us to admit that we have a sinful and perverted nature, and turn to Him. He asks us to believe on his blood, death, and resurrection. He gave the ultimate gift of love when he gave everything—His very life—to cover the death penalty demanded by a pure and Holy God. He showed ultimate love. And the only way we can give this love to others is to let Him change our nature.

            If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us your sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

~I John 1:9~

            When the old man in the nursing home—I never did learn his name—died, he left Mabel behind. The Sunday that he died we went to the nursing home and found Mabel sitting motionless, as usual, in her wheel chair. But when my mom went over to talk to her, Mabel started to jerk her head as if she wanted to say something. Then she said, “He's gone.” That was the only time we ever heard her say anything. A month later, Mabel died as well.

            True love. When two people last a lifetime together, know each other’s greatest faults, but still love each other—we have seen God in their lives. We know that our impossible selfish natures can be killed by the love of God and we are able to love our spouses like Christ loved us.

Modestly a girl

Changing our hearts before our wardrobes



                        http://inspirationlane.tumblr.com/

  What is modesty? As a Christian young woman, I have been exposed to this question over and over again. I have always been under the standards of my parents, my schools, and my Christian culture. I went to a private school where we wore blue plaid skirts and a navy cardigan; I went to a college that was only second to West Point in strict standards. You would think that modesty wouldn't be an issue in environments like the ones I just described. But girls still pushed the line—in high school they rolled the tops of their skirts and in college they wore the dress code out of the dorms and changed in the bathroom. My schools enforced the law, but they could not enforce the spirit of the law in the girls.

  Why do girls dress immodestly? I think I know the answer. Girls know that they can attract a man by their body. Gaining power by beauty or immodest is a woman's chief temptation. A girl has the need to feel loved and desired, but the need for love should never be replaced by the need to control.

  What are we seeking when we dress immodestly—love or worship? If a woman dresses immodestly, she is not winning love. She has his attention, but she doesn't have his heart. He does not cherish her soul; he is not drawn by her personality. She is deceived by the emptiness of her power, because when he is satisfied by her flesh then he will leave. She has not experienced love, only lust. And she has not won anything, she only lost much.

  What does it mean to be modest? I don't think modesty is socks up to the knees, a skirt to the ankles, or a shirt that wears like a potato sack. No, modesty is a little more simplified. I can't give you modesty standards like the schools I attended—you should read and apply the Bible for your standards. But I can say that if you have a spirit that wants to be immodest than you will use a potato sack wrongly. Do you think a Muslim woman, wrapped from head to toe in fabric, can be immodest? Yes, she can use her eyes to attract the wrong attention. First things first. Why don't we change our hearts and then we can work on changing our wardrobe?

 

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." Romans 8:5

 

  Why don't we stop seeking our own status symbols? Does it really matter how many guys take us out on dates? Does it really matter if we are 'prettier' than any other girl on campus? Come on ladies, let's grow up. Are you tired of playing these stupid power games where you only get hurt? Why don't you play for keeps? Put some clothes on and let a Christian man cherish your soul not your body.

  Perhaps, you don't really believe that God will provide you with a Christian man. Do you think that you have to help God out by dressing to attract a man? Look at the Bible. In Genesis 24, Rebekah was not expecting love but God had a plan for her. He sent a servant of Isaac to find a godly woman. And she, instead of thinking of herself, gave this servant and his animals water. And God blessed her for her trust in him. Don't we believe that the God of the Bible is still God today? Can't we let Him write our love story, or do we have to start scribbling away and mess everything up? God loves you and He wants to fill you. Claim His promises to fill us.

   Lastly, I'm not saying that we should dress like slobs. No. I highly advocate perfume, deodorant, style, make-up, and all kinds of shoes. I love to look beautiful, and if you are a girl, you should also enjoy being feminine and beautiful. But there is a big difference between beauty and barely there. Let us be women seeking to give to those around us, not girls who only seek to defraud and deceive the men around them.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." I John 4:10-11